> I agree with you re: the bottom point about EMT's salaries. It's the same with teachers.

It toils be interesting to see if these problems were related. Eg invest heavily in education and teachers, and would the demands on EMTs fall?

> they're one of the most essential parts of society, and they're paid so little.

They can somehow hire enough even at this salaries, and appear to think that's enough. Quality of education is hard to measure, and it takes very long to measure, much longer than a typical election term.

Agreed, however the turnover is terrible. With the low wages and tough working conditions, the department I worked had 15 EMT-firefighters when fully staffed, which was pretty much never. We averaged a little over two and a half new hires a year the time I worked there, nearl 17 percent turnover, every year. Ran into a former coworker a the grocery store a few months ago, he told me an entire shift just quit, a third of the department. That is no way to run a business.

>> I agree with you re: the bottom point about EMT's salaries. It's the same with teachers; they're one of the most essential parts of society, and they're paid so little.

See also:

- Truckers

- Farmers (though some do pretty well) and farmhands

- Janitors

- Babysitters

- Teaching assistants

- Receptionists